TURKEY pulled off another stunner in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, shocking world No. 5 and crowd darling Japan in a 25-19, 25-23, 25-19 sweep in Pool G before a jampacked crowd Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Except for a second-set scare, world No. 16 Turkey pretty much kept the Ryujin Nippon at bay to spoil the party brought on by the pro-Japanese crowd, no thanks to the twin towers of Efe Mandiraci and Adis Lagumdzija as well as setter Murat Yenipazar, the team skipper.
The stunning win came after 29th seed Portugal, making a comeback to the world stage after 23 years, surprised 10th seed Cuba earlier 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19.
Mandiraci, a 6-foot-7 outside hitter, had 17 points while 6-foot-9 opposite spiker Lagumdzija added 15 points.
Mandiraci, who emerged as the Best Server in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) preliminary rounds, had five aces and punished Japan’s defense, which had 21 errors.
He scored nine of his total output in the first set alone where Turkey bucked off a sluggish 6-9 start behind a searing 14-5 barrage to take command at 20-14.
Turkey also seized early control in the second set and not even Japan’s uprising from a 15-20 deficit to catch up at 23-all proved enough, with Mandiraci hammering an ace and Lagumdzija unloading an axe on Ran Takahashi for a close 25-23 triumph.
As impressive as the wing combo of Turkey, who banked on a mid-set rally anew to run away from a 12-all deadlock in the third en route to the stunning win, it would not have been possible to break through Japan’s defense without star setter Yenipazar, who engineered their potent offense with 29 sets and 11 digs.
Libero Berkay Bayraktar provided 13 receptions and 11 digs as Turkey gifted head coach Slobodan Kovač of Serbia a fitting present for his 58th birthday.
“I think the work we did during the preparation just took us to a different level. Now, we believe more that we can play high level and we can show it to the world. We are ready to fight against everybody,” said Yenipazar, the 2024 Turkish League MVP and former FIVB youth Best Setter.
Yenipazar, 32, was also hailed as the third-best setter in the 2025 VNL despite Turkey finishing at No. 17 compared to Japan at No. 6.
“We played really good volleyball, tactically. We had problems with discipline in some moments as Japan played with fantastic technique but today, we stopped that due to good service and blocking,” said Kovač.
Kento Miyaura and skipper Yuki Ishikawa were the lone bright spots for the Japanese with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
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